“It’s difficult enough anyway but certainly when it’s the time of year when people do start coming back out.”

And to compound the pub’s problems they say they were only given notice Station Road would be closed last week.

“The information board stated there would be roadworks. It didn’t say anything about the road being closed, they only went up last week,” said Duncan.

“They haven’t given us any notice. If they had spoken to us it would have given us the opportunity to put some signs up and speak to the customers.”

Station Road will be shut for about four weeks and the next most direct route to the pub, Gongar Lane, is also closed due to roadworks.

“Because Gongar Lane is closed the diversion goes absolutely miles out. All the way up to Delamere Forest, through all sorts. People can only drive to the pub from the other direction.

“We have measured the diversion. Normally it’s 1.1 miles from the main road, if they hadn’t shut Gongar Lane it would be 1.5 miles, but the way it is now it’s 9.8 miles.

“It just baffles me. It wouldn’t be a problem if they hadn’t closed the other road at the same time. It would take people a couple of miles out and we could have put up a couple of signs.”

The road was reopened for the Easter weekend but the diversions are now back in place.

Cheshire County Council spokesman David Hope said: “In the engineers’ defence, work started back in February and advanced information boards warning that the road would be closed were erected on March 3.

“The engineers are excavating to a depth of three metres, about 10ft, and the ground needs to be left in a stable condition.”